Bibliography: leaves 289-313. / v, 316 leaves., 17 p. of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / A study which takes as its focus five gemstones, each engraved with an image of the Crucifixion and previously dated to the Late Antique period. The study undertakes an examination of the gems' iconographic as well as compositional, physical and epigraphic evidence, and demonstrates the way in which critical information regarding the evolution of the Crucifixion image in Late Antiquity has been seriously obstructed in previous studies through the dismissal, misapplication and misinterpretation of the gems. Focusing on iconography, it presents a revised chronology for the gems, suggesting that only three are Late Antique, the fourth being early Byzantine. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Centre for European Studies and General Linguistics, 2001

In this dissertation it is contended that central to Reinhold Niebuhr's theology and ethics is his understanding of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as a revelation of the suffering of God. Keeping in mind the theologia crucis of Martin Luther, Part I examines the significance of the Christian symbol of the cross during Niebuhr's formative years and as he later sought to relate the moral and ethical insights of the Christian faith to the more tragic social and political events of his age. / Part II begins with a systematic appraisal of Niebuhr's theology of the cross in reference to his understanding of Christian anthropology, theology proper, the atonement, history and eschatology. The theological similarities of Niebuhr's thought to the theologia crucis of Luther are made explicit. A delineation is then made of Niebuhr's social ethic of the cross. It is an ethic which seeks to underscore the true but limited relevance of the norm of sacrificial love to issues of relative justice. This ethic is then contrasted to the ethica crucis of Luther. / The dissertation concludes with an examination of the current debate regarding Niebuhr's ultimate political position. It is suggested that an understanding of Niebuhr's theology and ethic of the cross is essential to any thorough appreciation of the major shifts which occurred within his political thought.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Centre for European Studies and General Linguistics, 2001. / Bibliography: leaves 289-313.

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Cette thèse porte sur l’iconographie de la Crucifixion dans les peintures murales carolingiennes entre le IXe et le début du XIe siècle. Pivot dans la pensée chrétienne par sa portée dogmatique, la Crucifixion reste cependant peu représentée dans l’Occident latin jusqu’au milieu du VIIIe siècle. La période carolingienne marque, de fait, un tournant décisif où la Crucifixion s’affiche progressivement sur tous les supports et à travers des techniques différentes, en même temps que l’iconographie tend à se cristalliser. Nous appuyant sur une documentation comptant treize décors peints entre le IXe et le début XIe siècle et répartis dans les anciennes limites de l’Empire carolingien et ses marges, notre étude vise à analyser ce thème dans l’art monumental, peu étudié jusqu’alors. Outre la persistance de formes au-delà de la chute de l’Empire et des frontières politiques, les peintures recensées mettent en évidence le recours à une construction visuelle tributaire de traditions diverses – en premier lieu textuelles – permettant d’exalter la divinité du Christ sur la croix, mais aussi d’insister davantage sur son humanité souffrante. Ces choix iconographiques font écho à l’orientation théologique qui se manifeste sous le règne de Charlemagne et de ses successeurs et au sein de laquelle la Croix et le Crucifié occupent une place majeure. Mais, bien plus que de réserver notre analyse au cadre de l’image, il s’agit également de dépasser le champ figuratif pour prendre en compte l’environnement spatial et cultuel de la Crucifixion, et ce, afin d’envisager les lectures de ce décor dans l’espace qui lui est imparti. En étant peinte sur la paroi de l’édifice religieux, la peinture fait partie non seulement du décorum de l’édifice cultuel, mais participe parfois également aux rites qu’elle encadre. Ainsi, à la lumière des sources exégétiques et liturgiques, il convient de replacer le décor dans la scénographie dans laquelle elle s’inscrit. Souvent associée à un autel (majeur ou secondaire), voire à des fonts baptismaux, la Crucifixion s’inscrit bien souvent dans des temps rituels spécifiques ou des pratiques dévotionnelles qui témoignent d’une transformation du sentiment religieux à l’égard de la Passion et de ses représentations. / This Dissertation focuses on the iconography of the Crucifixion in the Carolingian mural painting between the 9th and the beginning of the 11th century. Pivot in the Christian thought with its dogmatic scope, the Crucifixion remains however poorly represented in the Latin West until the middle of the 8th century. Actually, the Carolingian period is a decisive turning point when the Crucifixion displays gradually on all the supports and through different technics, at the same time as the iconography tends to be crystallized. Based on a documentation composed of thirteen decorations painted between the 9th and the beginning of the 11th century and distributed in the former limits of the Carolingian Empire and its margins, our study aims at analyzing this subject in the monumental art, poorly studied yet. Besides the obstinacy of forms beyond the fall of the Roman Empire and the political limits, the paintings listed highlight the appeal to a visual construction due to diverse traditions - first of all textual - allowing to exalt the Christ's divinity on the cross, but also to insist more on his suffering humanity. These iconographic choices comes from the theological shifting under the reign of Charlemagne and his successors. At this time, the Cross and the Crucified occupy a major place. However, this analysis exceeds the figurative meaning, in the way to consider the spatial and religious environment of the Crucifixion and clarify the readings of the decoration within its own space. Painted on the religious buildings’ walls, images are a part of the decorum. Moreover, based on exegetical and liturgical sources, we can argue that the paintings are sometimes used to the scenography of rites. Often associated with an altar (major or secondary), even in baptismal fonts, the Crucifixion seats in specific ritual times or devotional practices testifying of a transformation of the religious feeling towards the Passion and its representations.

The principal contention of this thesis is that the earliest Christians viewed the crucifixion of Jesus as paradigmatic for discipleship, confirmation of which can be found in the history and function of a particular saying ascribed to Jesus, namely the ‘cross saying’ (Mk 8:34 and par.). To verify this claim, I explore both the literary tradition and material culture of early Christianity as they relate to the cross saying, explicating the various ways that “taking up the cross” functioned to ensure unwavering loyalty to Jesus. Taking a traditional exegetical approach, I also engage recent work on sapiential literature (mainly Q) and Historical Jesus studies, observing the diverse ways in which the first several generations of Jesus’ followers adapted this saying—both as an aphorism for inclusion in gospels, and in the development of cognate versions useful in more theological settings (e.g., Gal 2:20). Proceeding diachronically via a textual analysis of the cross saying in Q, the Synoptics, and then the Gospel of Thomas, I trace the ways in which the composers of these texts addressed the different social situations of their audiences in an effort to secure commitment to Jesus (or, in the case of Gos. Thom., conformity to his enlightened teachings). Then, turning from the literature to the social and political environment of the New Testament, I note the radical reversal, occurring early in Christian thought, which transformed the crucifixion of Jesus from a shameful social experience into one of honour, and worthy of emulation. Even more significant in terms of current research, I break from the opinions of several New Testament scholars in finding little evidence that the cross saying (presuming it was dominical) functioned as a call to political insurrection. Rather, as evidenced in Christian material culture from the second and third centuries (symbols, the orant prayer posture, making the ‘sign of the cross,’ and so on), the association of crucifixion with discipleship was understood primarily in terms of religious devotion to Jesus.

This paper discusses the fresco decoration of Santa Maria ad Cryptas. The frescoes are described and analyzed, and then compared to similar programs in order to determine which features are based on earlier sources, and which are unusual or unique to this particular church. The traditional features are found to reflect a long-established pattern of church decoration reflected in such monuments as Old Saint Peter’s, Sant’Angelo in Formis, the Cathedral of Monreale, and the Cappella Palatina. The unusual features (including the placement of the Passion cycle in the presbytery, and the location of the Crucifixion over the altar) are explained as modifications that emphasize themes of local importance, or of special significance to the patron. The Fossa frescoes utilize programmatic elements, such as the Old and New Testament narrative cycles, to explain sacred history as it related to a medieval man of the patron’s class and profession.

Dale Allison refers to the historical question pertaining to Jesus’ resurrection as “the prize puzzle of New Testament research.” More than 2,500 journal articles and books have been written on the subject since 1975. In this dissertation, I investigate the question while providing unprecedented interaction with the literature of professional historians outside of the community of biblical scholars on both hermeneutical and methodological considerations. Chapter one is devoted to discussions pertaining to the philosophy of history and historical method, such as the extent to which the past is knowable, how historians gain a knowledge of it, the impact biases have on investigations and steps that may assist historians in minimizing their biases, the role a consensus should or should not play in historical investigations, who shoulders the burden of proof, and the point at which a historian is warranted in declaring that a historical question has been solved. I seek to determine how historians outside of the community of biblical scholars generally proceed in their investigations involving non-religious matters and establish a similar approach for proceeding in my investigation of the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection. In chapter two, I address objections to the investigation of miracle-claims by historians from a number of prominent scholars. My conclusion is that their objections warrant that extra caution should be taken by historians investigating miracle claims but are ill-founded in terms of prohibiting a historical investigation of Jesus’ resurrection. Historians must identify the relevant sources from which they will mine data for their investigations. In chapter three, I survey the primary literature relevant to our investigation and rate them according to their value to an investigation pertaining to Jesus’ resurrection. I limit this survey to sources that mention the death and resurrection of Jesus and that were written within two hundred years of Jesus’ death. I then rate each according to the likelihood that it contains data pertaining to Jesus’ death and resurrection that go back to the earliest Christians, and identify the sources most promising for the present investigation. In chapter four, I mine through this most promising material and form a collection of relevant facts that are so strongly evidenced that they enjoy a heterogeneous and nearly universal consensus granting them. These comprise our historical bedrock upon which all hypotheses pertaining to Jesus’ fate must be built. In chapter five, I apply the methodological considerations discussed in chapter one and weigh six hypotheses largely representative of those being offered in the beginning of the twenty-first century pertaining to the question of the resurrection of Jesus. I conclude that the hypothesis that Jesus rose from the dead is not only the best explanation of the relevant historical bedrock, it outdistances its competitors by a significant margin and meets the criteria for awarding historicity. Of course, this conclusion is provisional, since future discoveries may require its revision or abandonment. It also makes no assertions pertaining to the nature of Jesus’ resurrection body nor claims to address the question of the cause of Jesus’ resurrection. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / New Testament Studies / unrestricted